Smile
by Lunatic Silver
Summary: Rachel wasn't the only one who saw Caleb's ghost in others.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Skinwalkers_ nor its characters. They belong to LGF, After Dark, and whoever else screwed the movie up.

**Note: **Script influences.

**Smile**

The house was quiet and still; it was nearly two in the morning and everyone was sound asleep. Almost everyone.

Unable to sleep and too restless to simply lay in bed and try, Jonas stood in the doorway to his nephew's room. He smiled; it was faint and he doubted anyone would notice besides Kat and his mother. But it was still there. Jonas smiled the most with Tim.

It wasn't that he loved Tim more than the others. It wasn't like Tim's sickness that would soon become a cure made him Jonas' favorite family member. The truth was, Jonas really didn't know why Tim was able to make him smile so much, even now when he was asleep in his bed.

Maybe it was because despite everything, the boy was full of life. He loved living; he fought hard to continue doing so. Mostly for his mother and his family. Tim was a Varek after all; they always fought hardest for their loved ones. But there was also Tim's love of life, and his desire to one day live without the illness that plagued him.

Jonas suspected that came from both of Tim's parents.

Perhaps that was why he made Jonas smile so much.

Or maybe it was because Jonas loved Tim as his own; Kat even loved Tim more as a brother than simply a little cousin always around. Jonas had always wanted a big family and though people he loved were missing from his life, he did have a big family. Including a son. He knew Rachel and Tim didn't have a clue how much Jonas loved them, but they were more than just blood and legalities. Watching Tim grow up was like watching his own child slowly mature into an adult.

That could be the reason. An almost paternal bond and fatherly pride was why Jonas smiled so much around Tim.

Tonight though, tonight Jonas' lips formed the faintest of smiles for a completely different reason. He watched his young nephew sleep, the covers twisted and kicked off, his football jersey three sizes too big, his hair in need of a cut desperately, and Jonas could almost swear he was watching his little brother instead.

Jonas rarely ever spoke of Caleb. Jonas wasn't the type to really talk about his emotions, or his lost loved ones. How he dealt with everything kept him from really being able to do so. But Jonas missed his brother. He still mourned Caleb, same as Rachel.

So much like Tim. Caleb had been full of life and a love of living, a desire for freedom. He'd been willing to sacrifice everything for it, willing to fight for it, willing to risk exposure for it. He'd loved Rachel, Jonas knew that. It didn't change the fact that what drew Caleb to Rachel was, ultimately, her humanity.

Jonas couldn't really fault him. He knew Caleb would never have hurt Rachel. He knew Caleb would have done everything he could to help Rachel get through her shock once she finally did find out. He knew Caleb would have stuck by her until his death, or let her go her own way if she couldn't handle it.

Caleb had just wanted his own life, his freedom. He'd been so young and so stubborn. Of course he'd wanted those things.

Sometimes Jonas wondered if that was why he'd been…why he'd died. Maybe he'd been noticed, seen as too much of a threat.

None of them knew why Caleb had been targeted that night. Nothing like that had happened before, and nothing like that had happened since.

Jonas almost resented the other Humanists for that. It was his secret, selfish feeling that he never truly denied himself. He thought it often, and he would want to hit the wall until his fists bled. He knew it wasn't fair to them – but it wasn't fair to him, either. To any of them.

Especially Tim.

Tim, who looked so much like his father, who had so much of his father in him. Lying on his bed, sacked out, clothes and hair ruffled and unruly, limbs all over the place as if he'd just held them out and fallen onto the mattress. He was just like his father.

Jonas' smile grew slightly. His eyes were glassy though; his smile was tight and his jaw was clenched.

Everything would be worth it in the end. All the deaths and the loss and the suffering would not be in vain.

Jonas wouldn't allow it to go any other way. It wasn't fair; but life never was. Jonas would fight to make sure it was at least more bearable for his kind in the future. He would fight to make sure that his brother's legacy lived, his brother's ultimate wish fulfilled.

The weary skinwalker's smile relaxed. He let the tears fall.

Caleb always could make him smile.


End file.
